scRNA-seq of mouse periodontal ligament labeled with LepR-cre; R26-tdTomato; Runx2-GFP

We employed a cell sequencing approach using 10x Genomics scRNA-seq to study the genetic profiling of LepR+ cells in the periodontal ligament (PDL). It has been suggested that PDL-derived LepR+ cells maintain hard tissue homeostasis by differentiating into hard tissue-forming cells such as osteoblasts and cementoblasts. In this study, we generated LepR-cre; R26-tdTomato; Runx2-GFP mice, and performed scRNAseq using their PDL cells. This study is the first genetic profiling of a LepR-cre-labeled population in PDL. PDL cells of LepR-cre; R26-tdTomato; Runx2-GFP mice were collected by Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and analyzed using scRNA-seq

本研究采用10x Genomics单细胞RNA测序（10x Genomics scRNA-seq）技术，对牙周韧带（periodontal ligament, PDL）中瘦素受体阳性（LepR+）细胞的基因表达特征谱展开分析。已有研究表明，牙周韧带来源的瘦素受体阳性细胞可通过分化为成骨细胞、成牙骨质细胞等硬组织形成细胞，维持硬组织稳态。本研究构建了LepR-cre；R26-tdTomato；Runx2-GFP转基因小鼠，并对其牙周韧带细胞开展单细胞RNA测序分析。本研究首次针对牙周韧带内经LepR-cre标记的细胞群完成了基因表达特征谱分析。研究人员通过荧光激活细胞分选（Fluorescence-activated cell sorting, FACS）分离获取该转基因小鼠的牙周韧带细胞，并利用单细胞RNA测序技术完成相关分析。